"Feeding prisoners genetically modified soy products may be 'cruel and unusual' punishment"

Feeding prisoners genetically modified soy products may be 'cruel and unusual' punishment - This is a link to a very interesting article. Eating soy may not be as much of a concern for men's health, but according to a study available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21854827 consuming soy may be of concern for women being treated for breast cancer. As many of you have probably read in my prior e-mails and/or posts, soy consumption was a concern for my mother over 20 years ago when her oncologist advised against her consumption of soy products, because she had a type of breast cancer that fed on estrogen and he was concerned that the components of soy that may have similar hormonal activity to estrogen may feed the cancer cells. When she has tried a soy product here and there since, she always notices symptoms from eating the soy, such as itchy sores on her face that would not heal, an ashen gray complexion and severe fatigue. When she stopped eating the food containing soy, the symptoms would improve. Therefore, for this and other reasons, we believe that in addition to the concerns she faced regarding soy when she was a breast cancer patient, that she is also allergic to soy. However, soy is in so many food products that it has become very difficult to avoid. Also, back when she was being treated for breast cancer, the soy products were less likely than they are these days to be genetically modified; this raises a whole separate area of concern for those who are advocates for labeling of genetically modified food and/or food additives in the United States and those who believe that genetic modification of food and food additives is what has caused allergies to foods that are genetically modified to increase.

I wish you the best of health this Thanksgiving and always,

Andrea B.

7 Worst Pizzas in America

7 Worst Pizzas in America

The article available via the above link is interesting. However, it does not take into consideration that the "Worst Pizzas" are not only the worst because of their caloric, fat and/or salt content, but also because the majority of these products contain soy. I find it even more frustrating that just about every frozen pizza does, even ones that carry claims of being "healthy" in their brand name and/or labeling. Fortunately, there are alternatives, since I find that making pizza dough, or any dough for that matter, from scratch is difficult and time consuming. One only needs to search the internet to find pizza dough products that are "soy-free". Many of these product's websites will provide information on local organic or health food stores that carry their products.

I recently read a very disturbing statistic on the website of a connection of mine whom I have mentioned previously in this blog, Dianne Gregg, the author of "The Hidden Dangers of Soy". The statistic was that 80 to 90 percent of U.S. planted soybeans are genetically modified. So, what do you think the odds are that the soy in these frozen pizza products is genetically modified as well? I would say the odds are pretty high that it is. Of course, they do not have to say so in their labeling in the U.S. and that is only one of the many reasons that I try to avoid soy.

I also avoid soy, due to the phytoestrogens that it contains. When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago, her oncologist told her to avoid soy, because her cancer was the type that feeds on estrogen; better safe than sorry. After 6 months of chemotherapy and a mastectomy, my mother has been a cancer survivor for 20 years now, thank God (and I mean that literally)! That was really my wake up call about soy and the more I learn about it, the more I say "no thank you".

I hope you found this information helpful, as living without pizza is a place this half Italian gal would rather not go.

Here's to your health and to pizza,

Andrea B.